Honor Among Thieves
by JPLegends
Summary: Fic request from Sergiegordon. Commander Shepard has noticed that Kasumi Goto has not been giving her all in missions. Worried that she'll hinder the suicide mission to come, he decides to have a little chat. Things do not go as expected. Rated T because of swearing, brutal violence and paranoia. ShepardXKasumi.


**Hey-o, this is new! This is a story request from one Sergiegordon41. Yes, I happen to do these and if you want to input a request, send me a PM! So, this is a special request from Sergiegordon41 asking for ShepardXKasumi fic! I do not own Mass Effect or its characters, ideas, ect. If you have a criticism, leave a review. I hope you enjoy this one-shot.**

 **God bless, JPLegends**

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HONOR AMONG THIEVES

Shepard exited the elevator and looked at the door on the other side on the hall. The Observation Deck, Kasumi Goto's stomping grounds. He has to talk to her about the team's-no, her slip up on Neith. She was absolutely distracted and not using common sense. And those slip ups ended up sending Shepard and Garrus to the med-bay for heathy doses of medi-gel.

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 _Shepard and Garrus were kneeling behind a piece of metal as a YMIR Mech was spraying bullets with its minigun at them. A dust storm was kicking up and was making it difficult to see through the team's visor. Shepard wracked his brain looking for the solutions and found that the simple solution was to confuse the enemy with a flurry of bullets. Shepard looked at Garrus in his black, navy and cyan armor. Garrus had decided to change up his look after he helped deal with Cidonis. Well, Cidonis lived but Garrus was appreciative on his new outlook on life. Kasumi had an outfit change too, after Hock died. She has a black skin tight suit and belt with red trimmings and red elbow-high gloves, knee-high boots and hood that covers her head and casts a shadow over her eyes._

 _"Garrus equip Armor-Piercing Ammunition," Shepard says, equipping Disruptor Ammo, outlining his gun with a blue light and design. "Overload that YMIR and keep low. One those shields are down, rip it to shreds. Kasumi, Overload with Garrus when he starts." Garrus equips his gun with a yellow light and activates his omni-tool, standing and firing at the YMIR, lowering a fourth of its shields. No second overload comes. Shepard only gets a few shots out before the YMIR fires its rocket. Shepard gets back into cover and swears as his shields make a shattering sound, like glass. "Kasumi, focus!" Shepard yells as the duo goes back under fire. He looks back out to Kasumi who aims her Locust SMG and fires a flashbang. It goes off in an array of white smoke and sparks, making the YMIR turn and aim at the thief._

 _"KASUMI!" Shepard yells. The YMIR fires a rocket, causing Kasumi's hunk of metal to fly into the air, completely exposing Kasumi for attack. Garrus leaps out of cover and sprints to Kasumi, tackling her out of the way of the incoming fire. As the YMIR slowly turns and readies a rocket. "No!" Shepard says, pulling his omni-tool and hacking the YMIR. The YMIR stops and twitches, trying to overcome the hack. "Get to the shuttle! GO!" Shepard stands on top of the hunk of metal and begins firing at the YMIR as Garrus and Kasumi begin running to the shuttle. The YMIR breaks out of its trance, turns and fires its rocket at the pair. It lands an inch short from the two, causing them to fall. Shepard fires an Incinerate at the YMIR, which turns and fires a rocket._

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Shepard walked to the end of the hall, raising his hand to touch the green light, his head swimming with thoughts. The part that angered him most was that Kasumi didn't even notice she nearly cost the team their lives. She shrugged Garrus's injury off with wretched optimism.

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 _"I've got this," Shepard says, putting an omni-tool to Garrus's leg and injects medi-gel into the wound. "That's a nasty hit." Garrus rubs the back of his head, exhaling roughly._

 _"Merely a flesh wound, Shepard." Garrus says in his charming, baritone voice. Shepard grins and shakes his head._

 _"Could be worse," Kasumi says. "That mech could have killed us all."_

 _"Could be worse," Shepard says, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "What do you think is better? Garrus having a broken leg?"_

 _"That grenade should have worked and you know it." Kasumi says, crossing her arms. Shepard pulls the omni-tool away and rubs his hands over his head, turning toward the thief._

 _"Jesus Christ, Kasumi, it was a flashbang," Shepard yells. "Flashbangs stun bogeys so we can kill them while dazed! Flashbangs don't work on synthetics. You could have used the abilities that could have worked! Like overload, or your gun! Which WAS THE PLAN, KASUMI!"_

 _"Shepard." Garrus says. Shepard looks back to Garrus, shaking his head slowly. Then back to Kasumi, shoulders raised, arms crossed, not looking at Shepard. Shepard sighs then grabs Kasumi's shoulder._

 _"I'm sorry," Shepard says. "You know I'm only looking out for my team. I plan for us to make it out alive when we go through the Omega 4. That includes you. Just be better about it, okay?" Kasumi looks back up at Shepard, her face completely unreadable. Her eyes glaring back at him._

 _"Yeah," She says, in her usually bubbly fashion. "You got it, Shep." The little nickname, her kind of nasally voice, it was so adorable to Shepard. Kasumi had a cutesy persona and Shepard loved it. It was nice to see she was faring well after she got Keiji's graybox back. Shepard sits back down and sighs. Garrus chuckles a little bit._

 _"Comradery among soldiers," the turian says. "Honor among thieves." Shepard laughs._

 _"You have no idea."_

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Shepard wanted to emphasize on what he said. He opened the door and walked in. He soaked in the surroundings of the room. Kasumi was sitting on the couch, facing the window looking out into the stars and away from the door. From the right of the L-shaped couch is a desk and a painting of two yellow eyes, which an artist from Illium painted for her. On the desk was a bust of a bearded man, which she stole on a dare from her dead lover, Keiji. Next to the desk was a shelf filled with classic paper books, romance novels, crime novels, that kind of stuff. And on the right of her was a painting of trees in a misty background, which she and Keiji were both told to steal from a client. Shepard looked out the large window, into the stars and nebulas. It was all so beautiful, and Kasumi seemed to be staring at it vacantly. "Hey, Kasumi." Shepard said, standing behind the couch.

"Hey, Shep." Kasumi replied back. Her voice wasn't as friendly and bubbly as it usually is. It was vacant, like she is focusing on something else. Tired, like she hasn't slept in days. Her attention was firmly held on the window.

"I wanted to emphasize on what I said earlier," Shepard says. "I don't know what happened on Neith, but you aren't like this usually. You know how to take down synthetic enemies, that's why I brought you. And you catching the YMIR's attention put the team in danger." Kasumi had no response. She stared at the window. "I mean, you nearly died. Garrus broke his leg trying to save you and I had to take out that YMIR by myself. We could have been in serious trouble. We all could have died." No response. Shepard was starting to get frustrated. "Don't you get it? Your mess up nearly cost us our lives. You're hindering the strength of the team! I need you at one hundred percent to finish the mission off!" Still no response.

Shepard walked around the couch to see Keiji's graybox in her hands, a blue light over her eyes. She's reliving all the memories she had with him. It suddenly all made sense to Shepard. He stared at her in disappointment. "Is this what you've been doing? Going through the graybox, his memories? This bothers you so much you don't train? You don't test yourself? You don't give your all on the battlefield? Answer me, damn it!" Kasumi stayed still. No response. Shepard was starting to fume.

"Kasumi, listen to me," He yelled. "I'm talking life or death! Mine, yours, Garrus's, Jacob's! Pay attention, or you won't make it out of the final mission alive!" No response dead still. Shepard grunted, reaching for the graybox and prying it away from Kasumi. The blue light disappeared from her eyes and she jumped up, trying to grab it back. Shepard held it away, trying to get the reaching Kasumi off of him.

"No," Kasumi yelled. "You can't!"

"I can," Shepard said, struggling against her. "I thought I could trust you with this! It's obvious I can't anymore." Shepard finally manages to grab Kasumi's hands and pushes her back onto the couch. "I'm sorry, Kasumi. But I plan to get us all out alive in the end. I'm keeping it until the mission is over." Out of nowhere, Kasumi reaches up with her legs, wrapping them around Shepard's neck and throws him over the couch. Shepard lets go of the graybox and he lands on the floor hard. He gets up to see Kasumi on the back rest of the couch, holding the graybox. She stares down Shepard, her gleaming eyes fluming with an emotion he can't pin.

"Don't do this, Goto." Shepard warns. Kasumi turns around and goes back to viewing the memories in the graybox. Shepard charges and tackles Kasumi over the couch, landing with a thud on the floor and reaching for the graybox. Kasumi struggles against him as wraps his arm around her waist and pulls down, reaching for the device as does Kasumi. "What on Earth are you watching that makes you this distracted on the battlefield?"

"That's none of your business!" Kasumi says, her voice dripping with venom. Shepard eventually gets his fingers on the roof of the device and slides it away under the desk, while keeping an iron grip on Kasumi. The thief elbows Shepard in the gut and slips through, getting up and sprinting for the desk. Shepard reaches out and grabs Kasumi's ankle, causing to trip in front of the desk. She reaches out and grabs the graybox, pulling it close to her. Shepard gets up and pulls her back, crouching to find the graybox in her grasp. She turns, kicking across his jaw as hard as she can with her free leg. Shepard winces, his jaw landing out of place. Kasumi shifts her hips and kicks with her now free leg. Shepard grabs the ankle, reaching for the graybox in Kasumi's hand. He grabs her hood, picking her up and flipping her hard onto the desk. Kasumi winces, as Shepard reaches across her body for the graybox. He grabs it, and tries to back away. Kasumi holds onto his wrist firmly and lifts her legs around Shepard's neck again, pulling herself up and twisting so she rests on Shepard's shoulders. She pounds on Shepard's head, attempting to get him to drop the graybox. He drops it, but when she tries to drop down and grab it, Shepard grabs her by her hood and leg, throwing her into the book shelf.

The shelf crumples, breaking and sending the books scattering onto the floor. Shepard picks up the graybox and waits for Kasumi to get up. She does but doesn't attempt to attack Shepard again. She looks at Shepard, then the broken book shelf, then back at Shepard. Her legs shake, her posture hunched, face bruised. Shepard in turn has a concussion, a developing black eye, a bloody nose and bruises on his chest and cheeks. The thief walks to the window and leans against it, looking out into the stars. "I'm sorry, Shepard," She says. "Take a look in the graybox. See what has been tearing me apart from the inside." Shepard stares at Kasumi's back, silent. Then at the graybox.

'What did you see?' Shepard asks himself. He plugs the graybox into his omni-tool and looks at the most recently played memory. It was Keiji Okuda, with his black goatee running from his lower lip to his chin and black hair in a military cut. "Kasumi," He says. "If you're seeing this, it's because I'm dead. The information we found is all here. It's big, Kasumi. If the Council ever got wind of this…the Alliance could be implicated. Kasumi, I…I encrypted the information to keep it safe. And I uploaded the encryption key to your graybox so no one could get the whole package. But if I'm dead, and if anyone knows about this…then I've made you a target, my love. I'm so, so sorry. I know you, Kasumi. You'll want to keep these memories forever. But you don't need some neural implant to know I'll always be with you. Please, Kasumi. Destroy these files. There's nothing more I can do to protect you. Goodbye, Kasumi. I love you." Keiji's last message to Kasumi. Nothing else is on it. Shepard looks at Kasumi, still leaned against the window. Shepard puts the device on the desk and walks over to her.

"He used to call me 'Little Bird'," Kasumi says, looking out the window. "We used to pull the greatest heists. We did a lot together. It was my idea to go to Beckenstien. And then Keiji was killed by Hock, stab wound to the head. He died in my arms and his last words were telling me to get the graybox back and that he loves me. I spent nearly a decade trying to keep that promise. And I do. I meet you, I get the graybox back and everything turns sideways. All that's left is information about an Alliance raid on a batarian home front and every single damn memory he had of us together. And he tells me to destroy it. My only link to him, gone.

"Imagine that Shepard. Imagine your significant other, someone you love more than anyone, dies in your arms and they tell you to spend the rest of your life to find the last thing they have linked to you! And then there is a note that says to destroy it. 'Destroy me, little bird. I love you, but destroy me anyways.' Do you know how horrible that feels?" Kasumi's voice was strained, raspy. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. Shepard wraps his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to him. Kasumi didn't fight it, she just stood there, leaning against him.

"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams," Shepard said. "Back when I was hunting Saren, me and a team of STG raided a base on Vermire. Saren wanted to make krogan do his bidding. I wouldn't have it. Eventually, it came down to a nuke. Ashley had to put a nuclear bomb in a strategic location while my XO Kaidan Alenko led a diversion team. Both of them were overwhelmed by geth and I could only save one of them. Until then, all Ashley and I were doing was flirting and we were planning to seal the deal. We didn't know when, but we knew it would come, so all we did was flirt. And then, I sacrificed her to save Lieutenant Alenko." Shepard's eyes began to sting. From one of the countless planets out there, life is very peaceful. But somewhere else, be it Tuchunka, Beckenstien or Vermire, it's a living hell. Shepard did his best to keep everyone alive and he feared that another Ashley Williams would happen. Who would it be next? Garrus, Tali, Thane, Samara? For some reason he couldn't figure out, he worried Kasumi would die first. And he dreaded the day that would happen.

Kasumi stood up on her tip toes and gave Shepard a peck on the cheek. "You're quite sentimental, Shep." She said, trying to lighten the mood. Shepard grinned looking back at the room. And the shattered bookshelf.

"Not sentimental enough apparently," Shepard says, grinning. "I'll pay you back for the book self." Kasumi turns and walks back to the couch, assuming her normal sitting position.

"Nah, I've got plenty of credits to cover that," She says, suddenly alive and back to normal. "Don't ask how I got them. If you want to pay me back, pull a heist with me!" Shepard raises an eyebrow at this comment.

"What?" Shepard asks. Kasumi gets up and runs over to Shepard, grabbing his shoulders and staring him down.

"C'mon," She says. "Nothing big or government owned. Just a bank on the Citadel owned by the Blue Suns. It'll be fun!" Shepard rolls his eyes. The stuff Kasumi can get him to do is astounding.

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"This should be easy," Kasumi says through the radio. "What do you think, Shep?" Shepard was tapping away at a transformer with his omni-tool while Kasumi is inside of the Joseph Dirk Citadel Bank, wiping away any footage of her and Shepard's existence. The plan is that Shepard cuts the power to the bank, Kasumi cloaks and extracts ten million chits inside, replacing them with holographic copies and escapes through a ventilation shaft to the roof. They then escape by rooftop as the power comes back on. No one will know what happened. He was ordered to wear a hood and mask so if anything went wrong, no one could pin Shepard to the robbery.

"I don't know, Kasumi," Shepard says, rerouting power to a transformer nearby. "You tell me."

"So optimistic," Kasumi says. "That's what I like about you, Shep. You're fun!" Shepard rolls his eyes, finally getting to a good wire to cut. Shepard cuts it and the power in the block goes out, blending in with the dark of the Citadel night. Shepard turns off his omni-tool and heads up a ladder to the roof. "Nice, Shep," Kasumi says quietly but jovially. "I always knew you'd make a good thief."

"You keep dreaming, birdy." Shepard responds. Kasumi laughs and Shepard makes it to the roof. Shepard walks to the ventilation shaft a kicks the vent, denting it. Shepard pulls it off and hides it in between a fan and the shaft. "Vent's open. If we're only stealing from the Blue Suns, I'm fine with this."

"I thought you wouldn't do this to be honest." Kasumi says. Shepard slacks against the vent and rubs his eyes.

"I survived the Skylian Blitz and the battle with Saren," Shepard says. "Stealing for me is a luxury." Shepard waits for about two minutes before Kasumi uncloaks in front of him, crouching and holding two large sports bags. "That was fast." Shepard says, standing up straight.

"When you're in the business like I am, you develop a certain set of skills." Kasumi says, throwing Shepard a bag. Shepard catches the surprisingly hefty bag, slinging it onto his back. The power comes back on and Kasumi looks around nervously. "Uh, this is not part of the plan." Kasumi says, looking at Shepard. They hear voices below and clattering from the ladder. Kasumi grabs Shepard's wrist, pulling him behind a fan and crouching. A turian, asari and salarian appear in blue uniforms with the Blue Suns logo, looking around. They pull out Carnifex pistols and walk around the roof. Kasumi cloaks, as does Shepard and they tip-toe across the building. The turian guard pulls out an eye-piece, similar to Garrus's and looks around. He suddenly sprints and reaches out, grabbing something. Kasumi uncloaks, the turian's hand on her wrist. Shepard charges, punching the turian in the face. Said turian backs up, while the salarian and asari close in. N7 training coming into clique, Shepard blocks the salarian's attempted pistol whip and upper-cutting the alien in the jaw. With a jab to the head, the salarian falls over and the asari closes in.

She tries to kick at Shepard, who grabs the leg and trips the asari. Kicking her in the head to finish, he turns to the turian to see he holds a gun. Shepard grabs the Carnifex and points it into the sky and proceeds to disarm, knee the turian in the face and roundhouse kick him to the floor. "My hero." Kasumi says. Shepard shrugs as more voices are heard from the ladder. Kasumi grabs Shepard's wrist and run across the roof tops, gunfire heard behind them. Kasumi and Shepard cloak and duck behind a rivet, staying silent as five guards run by. After about a minute or so, they slip to the other side of the rivet and uncloak. Shepard sits down and takes a deep breath. Kasumi sits down beside him, looking up at the artificial moon. "Never doing that again." Shepard dead-pans. Kasumi giggles. Shepard grinned. The little laugh is so adorable.

"I had fun," Kasumi says, placing her hand on Shepard's arm. "Thanks for helping me out." Shepard smiles. It is nice to see she got over Keiji. Kasumi leans in and kisses Shepard. A simple kiss, close mouth. Yet there was so much emotion packed into it. Shepard could practically feel every emotion and sentence needed to be said from Kasumi. 'I needed this'. 'Thanks for everything'. 'Be mine'. Every single emotion that Kasumi never showed, all packed up into one kiss. After about twenty seconds, they separate and look at each other. Every single emotion was in her gleaming eyes. And then they kiss again.

And again.

And again.

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 **I quite enjoyed writing that. So, that was my Shepard and Kasumi story. I hope you enjoyed it.**

 **God bless, JPLegends**


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